Wake Up, It's 5AM !!!!!!

[Victoria]

This is a topic I've been meaning to post on here for a few days now.

A while ago we moved from the Canaries to mainland Spain and brought our two cats with us. My cat, Cleo, has developed this strange habit she never had before.

At 5AM every day (give or take five minutes or so), she makes such a noise! It's like an assortment of different meows and cat noises and it goes on for ten minutes! Yowls, mews, howls, shrieks, purrs... she is a five year old spayed indoor-only female.

I thought it was because she was awake and playing so I hid her toys but she still makes all these weird noises

If I do get up she's leaping around on her side with her tail puffed out, keen to play.

The sun doesn't rise until about 7.30AM here so I'm just wondering what on earth would wake her at 5AM on the dot every single morning!! I work from home so it's not like I mind her waking me all that much because I set my own hours but why is she suddenly doing this after five years of NOT doing it?!

Anyone else have a crazy cat that wakes up at 5AM on the dot?! What baffles me the most is her accurate timekeeping! I know cats are nocturnal but it's like she can read the clock!!!

[momPaws]

I am not an expert on this board, but maybe she hears a noise that you don't hear...like a rooster, another bird or animal or someone elses clock or a car. (Here my paper boy delivers around that time.) Just a thought. Or maybe she just wakes up then for her own kitty reason? It is funny that it is 5 right on the dot.

[Victoria]

Who knows, she is totally crazy, lol She makes the most bizarre sounds too, like on this clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3FnCiRp ... re=related (it's a child safety video) from 28 sec.s and from 52 sec.s, just a mixture of cat-like noises. (OK just the sounds, not the actions in the video, else I'd defintely see a vet!)

We live somewhere very quiet and there are no roosters in the vicinity. I know there is a cuckoo clock in one of the downstairs apartments because I hear it but that goes off every hour on the hour.

I suppose there are some things we'll never know. I think Cleo just wakes up naturally at 5AM (a shame that I don't wake naturally until 8AM!)

[Traci]

I'm wondering that since you moved, if possibly the windows in the new place are situated so that she sees light of day sooner than the old house? And as MomPaws mentioned, maybe she hears some of your neighbors getting up early.

Btw, around here, the birds are up and singing long before the sun comes up, so maybe she hears them as well?

As long as it is chattering, playful sounds and not sounds of distress or disorientation or confusion, I would try not to worry about it, but there's not much you can do save for closing your bedroom door (or keep curtains closed on the windows facing east until you're up). In which case, she'd probably just meow louder.

[Victoria]

The sun doesn't come up here until 7:30AM, Traci, so it isn't that. Oh, it is definitely playful, chattering noises. Then the sideways jumping with the fluffed out tail and the cartwheels and the throwing her toy mice/rolled up foil balls into the air and running around like a lunatic.

As I said, I work from home so I set my own hours and being woken at 5AM isn't much of a big deal.I was just curious as to why on earth she chooses this exact time to come alive... I guess we can't always figure out the weird and wonderful catty ways How I would love to look inside her silly, funny mind sometimes

Birds start singing (wherever you are in the world) one hour before sunrise so maybe their body clocks are off too!

I was just curious anyway, it's not a big deal. It's kind of funny actually. Our other cat just stares at her like she's nuts! Lol

[Traci]

Maybe she can't quite get her bearings in the new house, like you said, her clock might be off, hopefully she'll get on a more regular sleeping schedule!

My cats are pretty good about mornings, usually, it is ME who gets up way before them and have to move about 5 or so cats off the blankets so I can get OUT of bed (they won't budge).

[k9Karen]

Perhaps her body clock hasn't reset itself yet. Are you in a different time zone than before? Is 5am in the new time zone the time she is used to waking up in the old one?

[Victoria]

No she's moved house with me about 8 times. As long as she knows where her food bowl is, she's fine! And the time zone is only 1 hour ahead.

Today I feel very sorry for Cleo. She's just had a dental clean and is recovering from the anesthetic. She hasn't been allowed to eat since midnight and her head is poised over the food bowl. She wants to eat but can't open her mouth because of the anesthetic! She can't make a sound either.

It's amazing the level of fury she can convey with her eyes alone!!! I'm sure she'll make up for it at 5AM tomorrow and express her displeasure over this (and the 10 days of antibiotics I have to somehow get into her). Poor baby.